Covid-19: Oxford extends vaccine study to children in world first February 13, 2021 Children as young as six will be given the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and Astrazeneca as part of a world-first trial to test the efficacy of the jab in young people. Researchers will enrol 300 volunteers to assess whether the coronavirus vaccine produces a strong immune system response in children and young [...]
Bytedance in talks over sale of Tiktok assets in India after ban February 13, 2021 The Chinese owner of Tiktok is said to be in talks over a sale of its Indian assets to rival Glance after the viral video app was banned in the country. The discussions between Bytedance and Glance, which were initiated by Softbank, are complex and in early stages, Bloomberg reported. Google-backed Glance serves news and [...]
High street redundancies: Which retailers have cut jobs in the pandemic so far? February 13, 2021 Thousands of high street jobs have evaporated during the coronavirus pandemic, as retail chains have fallen under the pressure of lockdown restrictions on trading. The UK high street, which was already struggling before the pandemic, is set to look very different when shoppers return after lockdown following high profile collapses that have cost many retail [...]
Google and Microsoft object to Nvidia’s $40bn Arm takeover February 13, 2021 Google and Microsoft have objected to the $40bn (£29bn) takeover of British chipmaker arm by Nvidia as the deal faces an in-depth competition probe in the US. The two tech giants, as well as semiconductor rival Qualcomm, are among the companies to object to the mammoth merger amid concerns it could harm competition. The US [...]
Rishi Sunak mulls six-week extension to stamp duty holiday February 13, 2021 Rishi Sunak is said to be considering a six-week extension to the stamp duty holiday to prevent thousands of house sales from falling through. The chancellor is mulling a time-limited extension to mid-May in a bid to ease fears that buyers could be caught in a “completion trap” as the current March 31 deadline looms, [...]
Eye carumba: Tips for looking after your vision on (endless) days in front of a laptop February 13, 2021 Early morning starts and late evenings spent in front of a screen have become the norm for city home workers. All of that time in front of a bright screen coupled with heating and poor room lighting can have a negative impact on your eyes. In fact, extensive use of computers can lead to computer vision syndrome (CVS), [...]
Matt Hancock: UK could live with Covid ‘like flu’ by end of year February 13, 2021 Vaccines and treatments mean Covid-19 could become a disease we live with “like we do with flu” by the end of the year, Matt Hancock has said. The health secretary said new drugs designed to tackle the virus could arrive in 2021, helping to make Covid a “treatable” disease. In an interview with the Daily [...]
Runaway inflation might not happen. But what if it does? February 13, 2021 As 2021 dawned, we were all inevitably thinking thank Goodness 2020 is over. And fair enough. But I felt a little less easy when friends went on to say, 2021 can’t be any worse. Actually, how can we know? Think of January 1666: was the average Londoner – say, a baker on Pudding Lane – thinking, thank Goodness [...]
Britain’s billboards are lighting up despite lockdown restrictions February 13, 2021 The billboard industry – also known as out-of-home (OOH) advertising – earlier this month received a welcome shot in the arm comparable to the good news surrounding the UK’s vaccination efforts. The latest expenditure report from the Advertising Association and WARC forecast OOH media channels will recover and expand significantly this year, with digital OOH [...]
London and UK trade bodies slammed for talks with Chinese tech linked to Uighur surveillance February 12, 2021 City Hall and trade department slammed for talks to Chinese firm linked to Uighur Muslim surviellance